Plaque

(lost) Tower of London execution site - c.1910

Inscription

Site of the scaffold on which were executed Queen Anne Boleyn, Queen Katherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey & others.

This image came from Twitter via Londonist, and from the children's clothes must be about 1910.

2020: Terje Hartberg contacted us via Twitter directing us to this Flickr stream which has a photo of this plaque in 1939, from a different angle. The frame of the plaque has changed since the earlier photo but that's all. Thanks Terje.

Site: Tower of London execution site (5 memorials)

EC3, Tower Green, Tower of London

Members of royalty sentenced to death were spared the ordeal of public execution on Tower Hill. This spot, inside the very secure Tower of London, was reserved just for them, and apparently the executions took place under cover. Excavations have confirmed the existence of a building here.

But one also hears that Lady Jane Grey's prison windows looked out over Tower Green and that she must have seen her scaffold being erected, which would not have been the case had it been enclosed.

2017: Within a few weeks we came across not just one but two predecessors to the glass cushion which has been here since 2006. We're being very nerdish, publishing them as 'lost' memorials, even though the current location of one of them is actually known.

2023: We watched the 1946 short documentary film 'Prisoners of the Tower' from which we captured images of 2 other plaques at the site.

2023: Using Museum of London data Londonist have analysed the who, why, where, when and how of London executions. To see the more than 100 executees on London Remembers click here.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Tower of London execution site - c.1910

Subjects commemorated i

Anne Boleyn

Second wife of Henry VIII and so Queen of England, 1533 to 1536.  Though marr...

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Lady Jane Grey

Married to Lord Guilford Dudley.  Her husband’s father persuaded the dying Ed...

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Catherine Howard

As lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves Catherine attracted Henry's ever-roving ...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Tower of London execution site - c.1910

Also at this site i

Anne Boleyn beheaded - 1946

Anne Boleyn beheaded - 1946

This image comes from the 1946 short documentary film 'Prisoners of the Tower...

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Tower of London execution site

Tower of London execution site

Catling wrote the poem as well as creating the sculpture. Doesn't that cushio...

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Tower of London execution site - 1972

Tower of London execution site - 1972

In the first 2 minutes of the 1972 CCF film "The Boy Who Turned Yellow" some ...

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Tower scaffold - 1946

Tower scaffold - 1946

See Anne Boleyn's plaque for when/how this plaque was displayed.

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Nearby Memorials

King George's Field - E3 - Tredegar Square - left

King George's Field - E3 - Tredegar Square - left

E3, Tredegar Square

Brought to our notice by Spitalfields Life.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
General Haynau

General Haynau

SE1, Park Street

In the 19th century this brewery was on the elite tourist trail so in 1850 when Haynau arrived in London here he came. But his reputatio...

2 subjects commemorated
County Hall - London government

County Hall - London government

SE1, Belvedere Road, County Hall

Designed as offices for London government, the building was opened in 1922 by King George V. We think it very likely that these plaques,...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
George Croydon Marks

George Croydon Marks

SE18, Artillery Square, Royal Arsenal, Greenwich Heritage Centre

The plaque is in the dimly lit museum of Greenwich Heritage Centre.

1 subject commemorated
Joseph Beck at Barton House

Joseph Beck at Barton House

N16, Albion Road, 233

Joseph Beck, 1828 - 1891, Chairman of the Clissold Park Preservation Committee who spearheaded the campaign (1886 - 8) to save Clissold P...

3 subjects commemorated, 2 creators